Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• finely chopped
• 2 carrots
• peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 25g/1oz unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium pumpkin or butternut squash (prepared weight about 850g/1lb 14oz) deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 medium-sized floury potato
• such as Maris Piper
• roughly chopped
• 1 litre/1¾ pint vegetable or chicken stock
• a little extra may be needed
• 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
• 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Put the onion
• carrots
• garlic bay leaf
• butter and half the olive oil into a large pan. Cook over a low–medium heat for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender but not coloured.
• Add the squash and potato
• mix to combine and cook for a further 2–3 minutes. Pour in the stock
• season well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer
• half cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for about 40 minutes until the squash is really tender when tested with the point of a knife.
• Pick out the bay leaf and blend the soup until smooth using a stick blender.
• Add the cream and a little more stock if the soup is on the thick side
• taste for seasoning
• adding more salt and pepper as required.
• Meanwhile
• heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the pumpkin seeds and fry quickly until the seeds start to pop. Remove from the pan.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a swirl of cream and the toasted pumpkin seeds.